Men's Golf Headline

Friday April 20, 2012Vogel Leads Gators on Day One of SEC Championship

The
No. 23 University of Florida men’s golf team used an opening round 283 (+3) to
sit in fourth place heading into day two of the SEC Championships at Sea Island
Golf Club. For the day, the Gators were led by junior T.J. Vogel (Cooper
City, Fla.) who carded an opening round 67 (-3), putting him in a tie for
second.

“We
didn’t really get a whole lot going,” said head coach Buddy Alexander.
“It was just kind of a ho-hum day. We didn’t get a lot of momentum but did ok
seeing that we didn’t make many birdies.”

Vogel
got off to a hot start on the day with back-to-back birdies on the par-4 second
and par-3 third. After another birdie at the par-3 sixth, Vogel had a hiccup
before making the turn with bogeys on eight and nine to go out in one-under 34.
Vogel was quick to bounce back making birdie on the par-4 10th. The junior
added another birdie on the par-4 16th to go along with seven pars to come in
with a 33 (-2) and post his three-under, 67. Going into the second round, Vogel
is one off four golfers that sit two strokes behind Bobby Wyatt of Alabama.

Junior
Tyler McCumber (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) currently sits in a tie for 14th after
an opening round 70 (E). McCumber made the turn in one-under, 34, after birdies
on the par-4 fourth and the par-4 ninth against a bogey on the par-3 sixth. A birdie
on the par-4 10th took McCumber to two-under for the day but he gave those
strokes back with a double on the par-3 12th. From there, the junior came in
with six straight pars to sit five back of the leader going into the second
round.

“We’re
getting accustomed to seeing T.J. doing well for us so it was nice to see him
go out and do his thing today,” Alexander said. “I also thought that Tyler did
a good job of grinding on the back nine when he didn’t have his good stuff
tee-to-green.”

Freshman
Eric Banks (Truro, Canada) and senior Michael Furci (Sayville,
N.Y.) each had rounds of 73 (+3) count for the Orange and Blue. Banks carded
his 73 on a birdie and four bogeys, while Furci made three bogeys and 15 pars.

Freshman
J.D. Tomlinson (Gainesville, Fla.) rounded out the Gator participants
with a 75.

“Tomorrow
is a new day and hopefully it will be our day,” said Alexander. “We just have
to go out play our game and hopefully make some moves and get back into it.”

The
Gators will return to the course tomorrow morning when they tee off at 8:00
a.m. Live scoring for the second round will be available through GolfStat and the SEC Championship Home
Page.